


Liars

by SpeedyStar



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bomb, Character Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Manipulative Relationship, One Shot, Other, Short One Shot, Suicide, Tragedy, apartment bomb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 19:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30111039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpeedyStar/pseuds/SpeedyStar
Summary: You end up with Rika in this one! Unfortunately, Rika has no happy ending.
Relationships: RFA (Mystic Messenger) & Reader, Rika (Mystic Messenger)/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Liars

Manipulative people aren’t always awful. They hardly ever seem awful, and people forget that. Sometimes one becomes aware of the manipulation too late and they feel it’s easier to just let it happen. The point I’m trying to make is it can feel good to be manipulated. I saw the red flags too late, and by the time I did, I was too swept away by her towering ideals to leave. 

I think I loved her.

It’s easier to say I loved her, and, well, she told me she loved me. That was all I’d ever really wanted. To be loved that is.

Lips skim over the skin of my neck, hovering near my collarbone. Her lips scratch at my skin here and there; they are dry and sandpapery from picking at them. 

I tried to get her to stop the picking. I ended up picking at my own skin in the end.

How did I end up here again?

Oh. I wanted to save her I think. How else could I save her if I didn’t bring myself to her level?

That’s what I told myself. I always said I was going to save her, but instead I dragged myself down with her. At least I was with someone in the end. I was always terrified of loneliness. If I had been someone else, and if the loneliness hadn’t scared me so much, maybe none of this would have happened. I was lonely that’s all.

I was lonely.

I was lonely when I got that text. Usually, I don’t respond to random texts, but it seemed harmless at the time. Soon enough I was swept up chatting with strangers online and organizing some huge party, all while living in some dead woman’s apartment. Except she wasn’t really dead. There was also a bomb in the apartment, but that’s not that important. 

Cold hands thread their fingers into mine, clasping onto my hands with great reluctance. The coldness, however, betrays their feigned gentleness. Her hands grip mine in a soft death grip. A reminder that we shall never part. 

The first time I spoke to her I thought I was dreaming. It’s not every day you see a woman who’s supposed to be dead shortly after you move into her apartment. 

It was late at night, and I was exhausted. I’d been crafting lengthy emails back and forth with a prominent organization overseas. I needed to be able to respond as soon as possible, so I chose to not sleep that night. The organization was a potential party contributor, and I wanted so badly to prove myself. 

Her words were just above a whisper, and she repeated herself before I noticed her presence. 

“You’re working so hard, darling.”

I remember shooting out of my seat. There she was: V’s deceased fiancé. She could’ve been straight out of that picture that had been sent in the RFA messenger earlier that day. The only difference was her clothing. She was in a black dress. 

I was either hallucinating or talking to a dead woman, so her outfit wasn’t all that important to me. 

She was perched on the edge of my bed, or should I say her bed? I was envious of her posture. I thought that the way she carried herself in life must have made her very influential. Considering the way Yoosung talks about her that was no surprise to me. 

She motioned toward a spot next to her on the bed, flashing me the most heart breaking smile I’ve ever seen. It didn’t reach her eyes, but she pretended it did. Even knowing the falseness of that smile, I saw something genuine in it. Despite her smile being gilded, it was just so gorgeous. Real or not, I would do anything to smile like that. 

“You’ve been so wonderful. It’s okay to take breaks you know,” she patted the spot she’d previously motioned too; however, there was something more threatening about her this time. 

I remember making my way over to sit next to her. She offered such sweet words, and I told myself she wasn’t real. She couldn’t be. 

Her soothing words pinched and pulled at my exhaustion and stress of the last several days. The party. The bomb. The time limit. The expectations. It didn’t take much prodding before I was on the verge of a breakdown. 

She watched the way the tears rolled down my face, and she smiled. This time it was different. It was more genuine. It was scarier. I really believed she was dead in that moment. 

She pulled me in close and reassured me. She would take care of everything. 

When I woke up the next day, I chalked everything up to being a dream. The only reminder of the previous night was the crust around my eyes from crying. 

My email! I rushed to check my email. Had I lost such a big contributor already? Checking my email, I discovered they’d already responded, but it looked like I’d emailed them back. They sent an acceptance after my response, but I know I didn’t send that email. 

Was Rika alive?

Was I going insane?

One hand releases its grip, and returns almost as soon as it leaves, bearing something colder than its fingers. Fingers press something cold and hard into my hand, curling my hand closed around it. 

“I’m so happy we get to be saved together.” 

Those towering ideals of hers I mentioned towered in more ways than one. She built them so high, they toppled over. The things she wanted changed. 

The very next night, Rika was back. She held me close and told me everything. At least, she told me everything the way she wanted me to hear it. She villainized V and talked about how broken the RFA was. I wanted so badly to believe her, so I did. 

If she was alive when V was saying she was dead, then clearly V was the bad one, right? That explained Yoosung’s hatred of V.

I justified her turning me against the RFA with what little I could. It wasn’t hard. After all, they were strangers in a chatroom to me. I hadn’t even met them yet. Some of them had even been reluctant to accept me. 

Rika made me realize that they didn’t deserve me even if they needed me. 

“Are you ready? We can be together forever. You’ll never be alone again.”

I’m too deep now. It’s too late to go back. I squeeze at the object in my hand running my fingers, searching for a button. 

Remember when I said the bomb wasn’t important. I lied. 

It’s so bright.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this one offends anyone. I know personally what it's like to deal with really manipulative people. Sometimes it feels easier to allow yourself to be manipulated because situations like that are really hard to get out of. Make sure you're taking care of yourself!


End file.
